Jon Lester’s No-Hitter, And Bridget’s First Game

Kristen Wixted took her 11-year-old daughter Bridget to her first Red Sox game on May 19, 2008. The Sox were playing the Kansas City Royals and while the night was memorable, it wasn’t just because it was Bridget’s first trip to Fenway Park.

“Jon Lester was pitching. And I was happy about that because I really admired him,” Kristen said. “He was a cancer survivor. Here he was was back out being a starting piture for the Red Sox after going through lymphoma treatment.”

Bridget was just 7 years old and ended up falling asleep midway through the game. The Sox were leading the Royals, and Jon Lester was pitching well. So well in fact, that around the 6th-inning the atmosphere in the park started to change.

“It got really quiet in the park, and I said ‘Why is everybody so quiet all of a sudden?'” Kristen said. “And I said it really loud. My husband leaned over and said ‘Don’t say anything too loud, but so far he’s pitching a no-hitter.”

Kristen and her husband nudged Bridget awake and told her to start paying attention. In the 9th, the crowd was on its feet. Kristen and her husband, both long-time veterans of Fenway, had never heard the stands so quiet.

“It was a moment no one wanted to miss,” Kristen said.

The Royal’s Alberto Callaspo went down swinging to give Lester his ninth and final strike out – and to make Lester the 18th Red Sox pitcher in history to throw a no-hitter.